More than 50 in DC hospitalized with stomach illness symptoms

WASHINGTON - More than 50 people, mostly teenagers, have been hospitalized and are recovering after becoming sick with what is believed to be a gastrointestinal illness.

D.C. Fire and EMS officials say the group of 48 teens and three adults arrived from New York to the Hotel Harrington in northwest D.C. on Sunday evening.

Fire officials believe the group became sick on the way to D.C. Many showed symptoms of food poisoning.

"We were told that some of the group were ill when they were in New York so we think whatever issue they've encountered did not originate here," said Vito Maggiolo, ‎public information officer with D.C. Fire and EMS. Maggiolo said that the illness began to present itself once the group arrived in D.C.

Those who were sick were transported in ambulance buses that are capable of treating multiple patients at once.

Doctors are trying to determine if those who were sickened have symptoms of the norovirus.